Filming begins on Strike: Lethal White
David Farnor | On 19, Sep 2019
Filming is now underway on BBC One’s new Strike adaptation, Lethal White.
Tom Burke (Cormoran Strike) and Holliday Grainger (Robin Ellacott) will returning for te drama, which will be the fourth story from the TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s best-selling crime novels, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Burke (The Souvenir, War And Peace) and Grainger (Animals, The Capture) lead a cast of acclaimed British actors including Robert Glenister, who most recently starred in Curfew for Sky One. Glenister also read the audio-book versions of the Galbraith books including Lethal White. Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders, Sherlock) and Kerr Logan (Alias Grace, London Irish) also return as Strike’s ex-girlfriend and Robin’s fiancé respectively.
In the grips of psychosis, a young man named Billy Knight (Joseph Quinn) arrives in private detective Cormoran Strike’s (Tom Burke) office telling the story of a child he saw strangled many years ago. Strike is simultaneously hired by government minister Jasper Chiswell (Robert Glenister) to investigate Billy’s brother, Jimmy Knight (Nick Blood), who is blackmailing him. As Strike and his partner Robin work to determine how the cases might be connected, Robin goes undercover in the House of Commons.
However, Robin’s private life is unravelling as her relationship with Matthew (Kerr Logan) feels the full strain of her commitment to Strike and her work. At the same time, Strike has his own issues, a girlfriend who confesses she loves him and his ex Charlotte (Natasha O’Keeffe), who is pregnant and back in the frame.
Tom Edge (Judy, Lovesick), who wrote The Silkworm and Career Of Evil, is on writing duties, and Jackie Larkin (Mrs Wilson, Stella Days) will produce. Rowling (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Strike, The Casual Vacancy), Neil Blair (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Mrs Wilson, Strike), Ruth Kenley-Letts (Mrs Wilson, Strike, The Casual Vacancy) and Tommy Bulfin (for the BBC) will executive produce. At the helm is Line of Duty and Tin Star veteran Sue Tully.
Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger to return for Strike: Lethal White
3rd October 2019
The new Cormoran Strike thriller Lethal White is officially heading to the BBC.
Strike has proven one of the more distinctive detectives in modern crime fiction and Robert Galbraith is among the genre’s most celebrated writers, shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger in 2015 and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year in 2016.
The Cuckoo’s Calling was published to critical acclaim in 2013 and went on to be a global bestseller, followed in 2014 by The Silkworm and Career of Evil in 2015. All three books were number one Sunday Times bestsellers in both hardback and paperback and Little, Brown has sold in total more than four million copies worldwide across all editions. His latest book, Little White, has just been published in the UK and is already a number one bestseller.
On screen, Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike: The Silkworm and Strike: Career of Evil have so far aired on BBC One to equally strong success. Each season was watched by more than 7 million viewers in the UK alone. It’s no surprise, then, that Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger will return to reprise their roles as Strike and his sidekick, Robin.
Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, says: “We are delighted to announce that the Strike series will return to BBC One with Lethal White. J.K. Rowling, once more in the guise of Robert Galbraith, has delivered another brilliant, knotty and original crime story. We are honoured to be working with Jo and once more with Holliday and Tom as Robin and Strike, to bring this hit series back to BBC One.”
When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike’s office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. Strike and Robin set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.
J.K. Rowling (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike: The Silkworm, Strike: Career of Evil), Neil Blair (Mrs Wilson, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike: The Silkworm, Strike: Career of Evil), Ruth Kenley-Letts (Mrs Wilson, Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike: The Silkworm, Strike: Career of Evil, The Casual Vacancy, The Hour) and Elizabeth Kilgarriff (for the BBC) are set to executive produce the new adaptation. Screenwriter Tom Edge (Strike: The Silkworm, Strike: Career of Evil) will adapt the novel for television.
This new series marks a continuation of the BBC’s relationship with Brontë Film and TV and J.K. Rowling. Brontë Film and TV has produced the first three Strike series; Strike: The Cuckoo’s Calling, Strike: The Silkworm, Strike: Career of Evil, and previously J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, a three-part serial, which aired on BBC One in 2015.